Shaping the lampshade yourself

A monochrome lampshade can quickly get boring. With a few simple tricks, you can decorate your lampshade and decorate great. We explain which lamps are suitable for which techniques and what you should look out for when beautifying your lamp.

Decorating ideas for rice lamps and paper lamps

Large, white rice lamps are nice, but can get boring too. But with a few tricks you can easily spice it up:

Stick your rice lamp with origami figures or cut figures out of origami paper. Butterflies make e.g. especially good, but also flowers, owls or just abstract shapes give your rice lamp a whole new touch.

Are you talented in painting? No? No problem! If you have talent, just paint on it with watercolors (but a pencil sketch is recommended in any case), if not, find some nice, abstract shapes on the internet, print them out and make a template, Now all you have to do is paint the shapes on your rice lamp and your beautified lampshade is ready.

Alternatively you can color the shade completely. For this purpose, use bright colors, so that light shines through afterwards. You can use different colors (for example, red, orange, and yellow) and mix with intentionally lots of water to create beautiful effects.

Decorating ideas for lamps made of fabric, glass or metal

Almost all materials can be painted. The important thing is to find the right color. Especially with glass and metal you should choose a heat resistant paint. First of all, paint shapes and figures with a sharpenable felt-tip pen (for metal and glass) so that you have the opportunity to correct any mistakes. In the case of fabric lampshades, you can work with stencils so nothing can go wrong.

Stable lampshades can also be well hung with decorative elements, such as Plant parts, feathers, shell chains, pieces of fabric or other. Before doing so, check that the lampshade does not get too hot to prevent the objects from burning.

Fabric lampshades can be embroidered with shapes and figures! Alternatively, you can decorate it with fabric strips (sew or glue), so you get a striped lamp.

What if the lampshade is dirty?

A dirty lampshade can be cleaned in most cases. In the following article in this series you will find tips and tricks on how to remove stubborn stains on your lampshade.

Tips & Tricks

If you want to make a complete lamp yourself, you will find many suggestions and links to the corresponding instructions.